Fruit stem end cutter



Q United States Patent l 13,536,114

[72] Inventor GeraldlLAndenon [56] n r c g g m UNITED STATES PATENTS 3; $559 1967 1,515,548 11/1924 Cerotsky 77/58.! P t med 3 3 3,382,901 5/1968 Pheterson 146/81X J km 3,259,159 7/1966 Andersonetal 146/81 San Jose, California Primary ExaminerAndrew R. Juhasz a corporation of Delaware Assistant ExaminerZ.R. Bilinsky [54] FRUIT STEM END CUTTER [52] U.S.Cl.

Attorney-Francis W. Anderson ABSTRACT: A rotary cutter has a radially-extending, forwardly facing cutting edge with a relatively large opening in the body of the cutter in front of the cutting edge. Accordingly, when the cutter is rotated on an axis in alignment with the axis of the fruit and is advanced toward the stem end of the fruit, any stem projecting from the end of the fruit will enter the opening in the cutter in front of the radial cutting edge and be sliced ofi' as the cutter advances in its stem-end trimming operation.

' Paten ted Oct. 27, 1970 INVENTOR.

GERALD R. AN DERSON ATTORNEY 1 FRUIT srEM END cu'mzk BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to fruit processing equipment, and more particularly to cutters for trimming fruit such as pears.

Prior devices, such as that disclosed in the US. Pat. to Anderson et al. No. 3,259,159, have been provided to trim the stem end of fruit. In general these devices have cuttingedges that are advanced into engagement with the stem end of fruit, which has already been stemmed and cored, to trim the end of the fruit and cause the fruit to have a flat end surface. Some of these cutting devices have openings in the surface that is advanced toward the stem end of the fruit, however, the cutters are rotated so fast and these openings are so small, or are so oriented, that any stemprojecting from the fruit does not have enough time to enter an opening before the opening has passed by. The present invention overcomes this difficulty by providing an opening in the disc-like body of the cutter that extends around a considerable portion of the angular extent of the cutter, thus assuring that any stem or stem fragment on the fruit will move to a position in front of the cutting edge in time to be cut off.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The cutter of the present invention is a fragmentary disclike member that is cut away over a considerableportion of its angular extent. On the trailing edge of the opening in the member, a forwardly-facing radially-extending cutting edge is provided so that, as the cutter is advanced toward the stem end of the fruit, any projecting piece of stem or the like will enter the opening and be progressively cut off during each rotation of the cutter in its stem-trimming'operation.

Other features of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a fragmentary side elevation of the trimming mechanism of the present invention as applied to fruit processing machinery presently used in the industry, with parts thereof beingbroken away for the purpose of clarity.

FIG. 2 is an elevation similar to a part-of FIG. 1 but showing a portion of the apparatus in a position which the trimming mechanism occupies during the actual trimming or cutting of the fruit.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic elevational view, on a reduced scale, illustrating the apparatus for actuating the trimming mechanism of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective showing the cutting element of the trimming mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

While the mechanism of the present invention may be used in conjunction with a variety of modern fruit processing equipment or by itself as an individual piece of processing equipment, it is particularly adapted for use with the apparatus shown and described in the pending U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 221,174 to Gerald R. Anderson et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Furthermore, while the trimming mechanism of the present invention may be used with different types of fruit, it is. particularly useful for trimming the elongated stem ends of pears to cut on project ing stem portions and to eliminate the fragile pointed'ends 'which have been, in the past, easily bruised or crushed to leave an unattractive mushy appearance. The trimming mechanism will, therefore, be described with relation to its use in a pear processing system as set forth in the aforementioned patent application. The trimming operation is adapted to be carried out upon whole pears which have previously been peeled and cored and which are arranged in an oriented position with their hollow, cored axes in an approximately vertical position. t.

As seen in FIG. 1, a conveyor 10 comprised of a plurality of serially arranged fruit supporting cups 12 is positioned with respect to a movable frame structure 14 so that the be moved conjointly during certain time intervals in which coring and slicing operations are performed upon the fruit by suitable mechanisms (not shown) mounted upon the frame structure. A part of this existing fruit processing machinery consists of a fruit lifting device L which is provided to aid in the splitting operation by unseating or lifting the pears P from the fruit supporting cups 12. In order to mount the fruit lifting device, pivot brackets 16 are secured to the frame 14 at both sides of the conveyor (one bracket only being shown in FIG. 1). The brackets are connected by a pivot rod 18 which is journaled therein and which has affixed thereto a pair of pivot arms 20 extending parallel to the conveyor on either side thereof. The pivot arms are joined at their distal ends by an angle iron 22 and a holding bar 23 which mounts an upstanding tubular member 24 directly beneath the conveyor 10 for movement into and out of one of the fruit holding cups l2 during the splitting of the fruit. This apparatus and its operation are fully described in the aforementioned pending patent application and form no part of the present invention.

A flat mounting plate 26 is bolted to the angle iron 22 and extends rearwardly beneath the conveyor 10. At the trailing end of plate 26 there is firmly attached a mounting block 27 by means of bolts 28. A trimming mechanism 3i) is situated upon the mounting block directly behind the tubular member 24 and, during operation of the apparatus, the trimming "mechanism enters a fruit receiving cup which isimmediately behind the cup entered by the tubular member. it will be understood that'the cups 12 of the conveyor 10 are disposed in transverse rows and longitudinal lanes and, accordingly, there is one lifter tube 24 for each lane and one trimming mechanism for each lane, such plural structure being further illustrated I and described in the aforementioned pending patent application. Only oneo'f such lanes has been shown in FIG. 1.

The trimming mechanism 30 includes a cylindrical sleeve 32 which is threaded into the mounting block 27 directly beneath one of the cups of the conveyor 10. A shaft 33 is rotatably received within the sleeve. This shaft is continuously driven during operation of the mechanism by means of a flexible cable 35 which is threaded into the shaft at 36 and is, in turn, driven by an electric motor or similar device (not shown). The sheath of the cable is secured to mounting place 26 by a clamp plate 37 that engages a flange on the sheath, the clamp plate being held in place by the bolts 28. The shaft 33 has a flange 39 at one end that abuts one end of sleeve 32, and a spring clip is disposed in a groove at the other end of the shaft to hold the shaft in the sleeve.

The actual trimming of the fruit is accomplished by a cutting element 40 which has a central stem 41 axially received a cylindrical passage 42 at the upper end of the shaft 33. The cutting element is fixed within this passage by means of a set screw 44 inserted through a radial passage 45 in the supporting sleeve 32. It can be seen therefore that, as the shaft 33 is rotated by means of the flexible cable 35, the cutting element 40 willbe rotated also. When the cutting element is placed adjacent the end of a pear P, it will operate to trim the pear rapidly into the planar shape of its cutting surface.

The cutting element 40 is shown in detail in FIG. 4. The upper or working portion of the cutting element comprises a large, semispherical hub 47 which acts as a guide and is adapted to be received within the hollow cored-out portion (indicated by dashed lines in H6. 1) of the pear to be trimmed, and a fragmentary disc 49 which has a sharp cutting edge 50 and a flat upper surface 51.

In the grade of pears that is used for fruit cocktail, it often happens that the stem of a pear is misaligned from a central stem-blossom axis. Accordingly, when such a pear in one of the cups 12 is engaged by a stemming tube to cut the longitudinal cylindrical opening 56 therein, the end E of the stem is not removed from the pear, 'as shown by pears P and P" in FIG. 1. It will be evident that, when the rapidly rotating cutter two may 40 is moved upwardly into engagement with the pear, the

a 3 downwardly. projecting stem end will assumeaposition in the cutter moves upwardly.

tront of the cutting edge 50 will be progressively cut offas:

in one succesful cutter anangemenbthe fragmentary a portionof the cutter bodyhad a diameter D of seven-eighth 7 inches anda thickness T of 0.25 inches. 'lhecutting edge 50 I was slanted 15 from a radial the includedangle,

\ moving clockwise from lineR to radial line S WasZOSE The converging surfaces forming thecuttingedgejo defined an' angle .XIOfBO'. Withlthis arrangement and with the cutter rotating counterclockwise in the range of fro m about 1,450 to? g 1,725 rpm, the opening between radial lines R and S was suf-1; s?

I ficientto permit stem fragments to become in front of the cutting edge 50 and be progressively cutoffi, 3 Y

Also, with this arrangement, the flat top surface 51 the pear, and to prevent the cutter occurwhentheareaistoosmall.

The for lifting thecutter-40 into and out oflthe fruit holding cups 12 is the same as that used to operatethe fruit lifting deviceLandis fully in the aforernen-1-- tioned pending Anderson et lal. Pat. application Sen No.

221,174 This apparatus :is shown schematically in F1653.

' can therein be seen that each of the outerliftingfarrns-ZO w-- cient area to support the pear, alter a flat spot has been cut on from cutting deeper as will which mount the cutter 40 is pivotally attachedto a lifier arm 65 which is, in turn, pivoted to a rigid link The twolinksfifi' I are fixed to a tubular rockshaft 68 which v in bearings 69attached to a portion'70 of the fired fra me structure of themachinerllockshaft also rigidlylmounts' a'carn follower arm 71 including a cam follower72 fwhich is adapted to ride in a track 75 formed in the face of 176. As the. I

' carnx'76 is rotated by. means Offl second 78; the cam fol-I lower arm 71 will be rotated and, consequently, the trimming mechanism so will be lifted within one. ofthe rum holding cups 12 to perform the trimming operation. Furtherdetails of the mechanism for actuating the anns arecoritained in the abovementioned Anderson et a]. application and reference maybe had to said application fondetails of structure and operation not found herein. V 1 g It can beseen that the present invention provides a member forrapidlyand efficieritly-trimming-the projecting stern portions of pears or similar, fruit to leave a generally flat end that I needs no expehsivehand trimming to put it in condition for further processing. The apparatus maybe easily installed'and adapted to presently existing machinery. While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described-herein it 7 i lclaim:

eighths inches.

slxmldbeunderstoodthatvariouschangesmaybemadeinthe construction without departing from the spirit of the invention asdefinedinthe'appendedclaims. I.

-1. Afruit trimming the type adapted tobe rotated at relatively moving toward and in-abutting end of a fruit having a stem fragment projecting from said end, said comprisinga cutter in the fonn of a fragmentary disc mounted for rotation about the central of the disc, and main for rotating said disc, fragmentary disc having aflat fruitengaging surfacewhich-lies in a plane perpendicularto the axis of disc hes the stem end of the fruit thereby permitting the stern fragment s a. 2.-;A fruit. trimming mechanism according to claim .1

wherein said cutting edge is formed by a wedge-shaped member having two flat intersecting faces whose line of intersection define the'said cutting edge, andwherein one of said faces is cpplanarwith the said flat surface of the said disc.

' S A V accordmgto claim 1 wherein the angular extent of the cut-away portion is approxinut tnmmingmec mately i559.

4. A fruit trimming according to claim 3 wherein said cutter-rotating means. is adapted to rotate said disc at a speed in the range of from about 1,450--] ,725 r.p. m.

5. A fruit' trimming mechanism according to claim 1 wherein means is provided for forming a relievedportion belowand trailingsaidedge. d i

6. A fruit trirruning mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the. diameter of said disc is approximately seven- 7. A fruit trimming apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said disc is' approximately 0.25 inches in thickness, and said cutting edge is formed by a wedge-shaped member havingan included angle of about 8. The mechanism of claim 1 whereinsaid flat fruit engaging surface lies in a horizontal plane and is substantially vertically aligned with an overhead piece of fruit. 

